Grand Island suffers first loss, 22-16 to McKinley

Grand
Island dropped its first football game of the season with a 22-16
loss to McKinley Saturday at Riverside High School.

The
Vikings lost starting quarterback Quinn Corrao to an injury in the
first half and played more than two quarters without anyone under
center.

"We
played hard the second half. We're down to no quarterbacks in that
situation, and our backs stepped up and did a nice job," GI Coach
Dean Santorio said, crediting running backs Paul Sukmanowski, Mitch
Fachko and Anthony Zogaria with giving the Vikings a chance in the
second half.

"We
made too many critical, critical mistakes against a very athletic
team," Santorio said. Corrao and Sukmanowski had rushing
touchdowns, and Kurtis Johnson had a field goal. Stephon Johnson had
two TDs, including a kickoff return for a score for the Macks, who
erased a 7-0 GI lead.

"A
couple botched punt catches, a couple kicks that we're not trying
to kick to their deep man and we did and he returned one for a
touchdown," Santorio said. "Those couple plays really hurt us."

GI
will play at 7 p.m. on Friday night at Iroquois in the first round of
the Section VI Federation football playoffs. The Vikings beat the
Chiefs on the same field last year in the consolation playoffs. Both
teams enter the game with records of 6-1.

"We've
seen them a little bit," Santorio said of the Chiefs. "They're
pretty balanced and throw the ball pretty well. They've got a
really nice running back. We've played them the last two years in a
row in the bowl games, so we're familiar with them. They've
played really well this year, probably surprised some people, so
it'll be a good ballgame."